Gears Of War

[Akira]

best thing since Halo for sure...

Definitely.Gears has raised the bar SO high.One of those RARE games that gets everything pretty much right i.e the controls,sound/music,visuals,gameplay,etc.

Gears is the killer app.

[EvilBoris]

Give it as rest mate, we all know what the A button does It's having it for 3 diff action thats the problem, and its far from perfect.

As for SONIC look one could press down onthe D-pad to before a spin action or press up in Sonic CD for a speed boost, but you could still play and finish most all the Sonic games using just one button

Welcome to the future of gaming, the world of context sensitive input.

Seriously it isn't hard. You press A when you want to cover and if you aren't covering you hold A to run. You hardly need to be a mensa member to get on ok with that (trust me, I'm far from being in mensa)

[Team Andromeda]

Welcome to the future of gaming, the world of context sensitive input.

Seriously it isn't hard. You press A when you want to cover and if you aren't covering you hold A to run. You hardly need to be a mensa member to get on ok with that (trust me, I'm far from being in mensa)

Context sensitve just doesn't work on face button that have so little travel , DOA XVB proved that more than any other game (how anyone can play that in Analogue I'll never know) . And for the last time I know its not hard , but its annoying and there's no real reason for it . Its also one of my major faults with PDZ (pressing A to cover)

[Yoshimax]

Context sensitive doesn't correlate to the pressure applied to the button ????

It's related to the situation of your character - I've already explained it on the last page and you weren't too enamoured with that so I won't cover it again.

You should be aware there is no pressure differential in the buttons - this may be where you are going wrong

[spagmasterswift]

Context sensitive doesn't correlate to the pressure applied to the button ????

It's related to the situation of your character - I've already explained it on the last page and you weren't too enamoured with that so I won't cover it again.

You should be aware there is no pressure differential in the buttons - this may be where you are going wrong

I dont get it...

[pixie]

I got into a co-operative session with sleepypixie yesterday.

Hardcore difficulty, got stuck STRAIGHT in. Very, very good stuff.

Top game.

Great game , sorry for dashing off

[Sabreman]

Has anyone who traditionally has motion sickness issues tried this out yet? It's really close to edging me into buying a 360 but from the footage I've seen I'm a bit worried that it'll affect me badly - it seems very 'shakey cam' (which looks incredibly cool but is one of the things I have major trouble with).

[Team Andromeda]

Context sensitive doesn't correlate to the pressure applied to the button ????

It's related to the situation of your character - I've already explained it on the last page and you weren't too enamoured with that so I won't cover it again.

You should be aware there is no pressure differential in the buttons - this may be where you are going wrong

Doesn't it, my mistake .

I just like to know what it so hard about not being able to walk into a object to take cover, and then use the A button just to jump around . Using the same button to run as you use to jump in asking for trouble and does get inthe way in the heat of the battle (when online) it also means I can't use the right stick to look to my sides (which is pretty useful in multi player)

[Yoshimax]

Seriously TA - Stick a multiplayer session on the mansion level, go stand upstairs indoors and practice standing away from the wall and pressing the stick towards it with "A" - To the left/right or in front of you - If you're within a certain distance your character will slide into the wall and instantly bind to it.

Similarly, if you're running with A held just running into an object will bind you to that.

To remove from objects just press "A" or press away on the stick or use left/right and "A" to roll off - If there's another bindeable object to your left/right (it can even be slightly off your plane) you'll bind straight to that.

Go play about then come back - I guarantee mate it will click and from that point you're away - At first I didn't get the "slide/bind" mechanic but once you've sussed the distances it becomes an essential part of your arsenal.

I think the word is "Empowering"

[revlob]

Ok, had a bash on Gears for the first time last night, after trying to avoid all the hype and spoilers. As someone who had relatively little idea what to expect, I'm pretty impressed. I'm sure everyone and their mum has gone on about the graphics, so I won't say anything about them other than this is currrently the best looking game on any system, ever.

I can really feel the intended target audience, as the game virtually oozes with male gamer stereotype. As someone who has done the FPS scene to death long ago, and likes to think their tastes have developed somewhat, I've noticed the focus the developers have given to developing for a certain type of gamer has meant sacrifices in some areas, on their quest to create "the next Halo". I was a little disappointed, for instance, with the lack of introductory background story. I'm all for being thrown straight into things, but the box and manual go on about how I'm supposed to have some kind of empathy for the characters, feel immersed in the world they've created, and it's just not happening. I expected at least a little internal monologue from Fenix, or perhaps a cut scene depicting the events of Emergence Day, but Gears was very keen to show me the game, rather than the story.

But then that's pretty much what I expected. CliffyB notes in the manual how heralded features like the cover system, which are hardly groundbreaking, have been turned into selling points by being made real. I think he was trying to say "we acknowledge Gears isn't the most innovative of titles, we've taken the shooter genre and pushed it to the limits, and made a damn good game." I think he was right.

So it all boils down to gameplay. If Epic have nailed the gameplay, then Gears becomes something very pure and simple. Something that doesn't get in the way, and lets the player find ways to enjoy themselves. If they get it right, then the singe-player mode could be viewed as just a distraction from the multiplayer, the awesomeness of which I intend to find out tonight.

So, the gameplay. Learning to control Fenix took me a little longer than the short tutorial expected. It was another half an hour into the campaign before I was getting to grips with the context-sensitive cover controls. Little things like knowing how far from a wall you have to be before pressing 'A' changes from "roll" to "stick to wall" make a lot of difference.

The weapons are a bit disappointing, I was expecting a bit more of a range, instead of your standard pistol/rifle/shotgun set. The enemies are a little samey, and I'm reminded of the first Quake, and how everything was just brown.

The NPCs on my side seem to be incapable of keeping themselves alive for very long, and often I can't be bothered to go revive them, choosing to finish the current batch of Locust off myself, and having the game heal them automatically. It's difficult to say much about the AI in general, as the Locust are supposed to be a barbaric, relentless enemy, the behaviour for which sounds easy enough to program. I guess it must be a different story entirely when facing human opponents.

Aside from those points, I'm enjoying singleplayer a lot. The combat is generally a lot of fun, and despite it being a bit monotinous, I'm not getting bored. If the multiplayer clicks with me, I could find myself playing Gears for a good while to come.

Oh yeah, and how about that blood, eh?

[bignige]

Has anyone who traditionally has motion sickness issues tried this out yet? It's really close to edging me into buying a 360 but from the footage I've seen I'm a bit worried that it'll affect me badly - it seems very 'shakey cam' (which looks incredibly cool but is one of the things I have major trouble with).

I get motion sickness really bad on cetain games - RB6, COD2 are the worst offenders. When I first played GOW, whilst running, I started to get that quesy feeling. I've been playing it for 4 days now & it hasn't returned.

[bignige]

and I'm reminded of the first Quake, and how everything was just brown.

Go to the video settings (whilst in game to see difference) and change colour scheme to vibrant. That'll get rid of the browness.

[Team Andromeda]

Seriously TA - Stick a multiplayer session on the mansion level, go stand upstairs indoors and practice standing away from the wall and pressing the stick towards it with "A" - To the left/right or in front of you - If you're within a certain distance your character will slide into the wall and instantly bind to it.

Similarly, if you're running with A held just running into an object will bind you to that.

To remove from objects just press "A" or press away on the stick or use left/right and "A" to roll off - If there's another bindeable object to your left/right (it can even be slightly off your plane) you'll bind straight to that.

Go play about then come back - I guarantee mate it will click and from that point you're away - At first I didn't get the "slide/bind" mechanic but once you've sussed the distances it becomes an essential part of your arsenal.

I think the word is "Empowering"

Ok , And I'm going to stick with it, You now I do like the game And I'm not knocking the controls just to wind people up. Just to me having one button performing 3 diff actions is asking for some problems .

Can't help but say thought from what I'be played so far, I'm enjoying F.E.A.R more , if only becasue that game got the best fire fights I've seen in ages . Think that could just be me though, and inthe same way I don't think this game outperforms Lost Planet in the graphic stakes either

[P-Dogg]

My mates and I definitely thought Lost Planet looked better than GoW.

Saying that I think it clicked last night and I'm starting to enjoy it more. Still not the AAA title I'd hoped for but definitely good fun and the controls are getting easier as I get used to them more..

[FreelancePolice]

I fell in love with it from the very first menu. It's got so much style, yes the characters are utter stereotypes but you can tell it's all intentional.

The multiplayer is, as i've already said several times, sublime